


Nightmares

by mynightchaton



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, F/M, Fluff, Marichat, Nightmares, mentions character death, pre reveal, sleeping au, they are a few years older
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21740320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynightchaton/pseuds/mynightchaton
Summary: Adrien Agreste was used to waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares about Ladybug. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was to see the face of another best friend; one with equally blue eyes and a smile that made his heart skip a beat when he saw it. Seeing Marinette in his dream was nothing but jarring, and he knew that he couldn’t rest again until he checked to see if she was alright.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 16
Kudos: 218





	Nightmares

It felt like the weight of a sledgehammer was being brought down on his chest as Adrien jerked awake and sat bolt upright in his bed. He could feel the sweat beaded on his forehead and his body, his hands clenched so hard his nails bit into the palms of his hands.

“Breathe, kid. Just breathe.” He felt the comforting weight of his kwami nestle against his forehead. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if closing them might prevent him from seeing her lifeless form cradled in his arms. However, the image of the girl in his dream was burned onto the back of his eyelids. It was as if he could still feel the weight of her body in his arms; see the emptiness of her once lively bluebell eyes and the wet tears still covering her face. He couldn’t tell if the tears were hers, or his. He couldn’t feel them running down his face, but he thought he could see them falling.

Adrien’s breathing was still haggard; this wasn’t the first nightmare he had experienced, not even close. Although he thought of himself as the cat’s meow at being the best hero he could be, the anxieties he harbored regarding his night job couldn’t help but bleed into the small bit of alone time that he had: his sleep.

It was shocking to see her there. The face of one of his best friends staring blankly into his eyes was jarring to say the least. It was usually Ladybug that occupied his dreams, nightmares or otherwise.

Trying to steady his breathing, Adrien cradled his head in his hands. He could feel the hot tears begin to fall down his cheeks.

“It wasn’t her this time Plagg,” he breathed to his kwami, who was still comfortably nestled in the blonde locks on his head. “It was Mari.” At this, Adrien felt Plagg shift. From the top of his head, Plagg reached down and patted his forehead gently, not saying anything.

Adrien shifted in his bed so that he swung his legs over the side. Standing up, Adrien shakily made his way to his bathroom. His vision was blurry, and he stumbled a bit, but he managed. Plagg left the soft locks of his hair behind to give him some privacy.

The emptiness of his spacious bedroom was stifling, and the quiet only made Adrien feel more panicked. He gripped the cold, unfeeling granite countertop of his bathroom counter hard enough to make his knuckles turn white. Seeing Mari’s face in place of Ladybug’s was shocking enough to make Adrien nauseous. Over the few years he had been attending public school, Mari was one of the only friends he knew would always be there for him. They had grown closer, over hours of silly, competitive MechaStrike binges and shared baked goods. Adrien knew Mari, and he knew that she knew him for who he really was. The only other person he could say that knew him as well as Marinette was Ladybug.

Adrien looked at his haggard reflection in the mirror and tried to breathe deeply.

“It was just a dream, Plagg,” he whispered, “it was a dream.” This self-reassurance did nothing to make him feel better. He knew it was a dream, but the growing realization that the ever-persistent villain, Hawkmoth, could and would hurt one of the most important people in his life was making him sick. He knew he was being irrational. Hawkmoth didn’t know Chat Noir’s identity and could never actually trace Marinette back to him, but that didn’t stop his ever-present need to make sure she was okay. 

“I need to get out of here.” He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath, fighting the tightness in his chest. “I need to make sure she is all right.”

He knew that Plagg understood because he didn’t respond. His kwami was normally much more argumentative and brash, but when Adrien woke up from nightmares, he was actually much quieter and gentler. The boy just took that as a sign that, despite his seemingly impertinent attitude, Plagg truly did love and support him.

Exiting his bathroom, Adrien made his way over to his window. He looked out at the Parisian skyline and steadied his shaky hands on his windowsill. He saw his kwami float into his field of vision, but his attention remained fixed on the view before him.

“I’ll be quick, Plagg, I just want to make sure Marinette is okay,” he said.

“You know it’s highly unlikely that anything happened to your girlfriend in the small amount of time that you have seen her, right? I mean, just because you had a dream doesn’t mean that anything happened. You should just go back to sleep.”

“I don’t want to go back to sleep. I don’t want to lay back down in that big empty bed knowing full well that I could fall back into that nightmare again. I just can’t do that again tonight. Besides, it’s nothing that a little midnight trip around Paris can’t fix.” Adrien tried to smile at his kwami, but the small cat just looked at him with an unconvinced, anxious expression. Adrien paused, “And Mari is not my girlfriend, Plagg, you know that.”

At that, Plagg just raised an eyebrow and flew back into his hair.

“Claws out,” Adrien breathed and closed his eyes. He felt the familiar feeling of his transformation engulf his body. Usually it made him feel better, more like himself, but the dull ache in his chest remained as he opened his eyes and hoisted himself up, so he was standing on the window’s ledge. Pushing the window open, Chat Noir breathed in the nighttime air of his beloved city and hopped out his window, catching himself with his staff, and left his large, empty home behind him.

***

She couldn’t know that he was there. Adrien wouldn’t know what to say to her if she saw him. It wasn’t the first time he had visited his best friend as his alter ego, but something about the night felt different. He was still having a hard time breathing, replaying the nightmare in his mind over and over again. Sitting on the lounge chair atop her home, Chat Noir tried to steady his still racing heart.

He sat there on her balcony silently, not really knowing what to do with himself. He had already peaked into the window to see her sleeping soundly below, clutching the stuffed chat noir plush he had gotten for her last year for Christmas. Remembering the occasion had brought a smile to his lips, calming him down significantly.

She had been so embarrassed and completely surprised. Their class did Secret Santa every year, and the last time, Adrien had gotten Marinette. He always got super into Secret Santa. He guessed it was because Christmas hadn’t been the same ever since his mother disappeared. So, when he had the opportunity to celebrate it with all of his friends, he couldn’t help but have as much fun with it as he possibly could.

When he gave Marinette the Chat Noir plushie, as a little inside joke with himself, he hadn’t expected her to be as affected it by it. Memories of the redness in her cheeks and the small smile she flashed its way when she thought that no one was watching played in his mind and teased a small smile from his lips. He learned later on just how much Mari had liked the gift, seeing her curled up with it as she slept on numerous occasions. He sat there on her roof and wondered what it would be like if it was him she was curled up against in her bed, and not the stuffed toy. The thought made his cheeks warm; he buried his face in his palms to hide it, though there was no one around.

“No. Bad kitty,” he muttered to himself. He knew he shouldn’t stay on Mari’s balcony all night, but he also didn’t want to go home. He could always wander along his and his lady’s patrol route to pass the time, but part of his just didn’t want to leave the bakery behind him. It was his best friend’s safety that drew him here in the first place, after all.

Chat stood from the lounge chair, thinking he’d steal another glance at his sleeping princess below. He sat back on his heels and placed his head in his hands, gazing into the bedroom of his best friend. The gentle light of the night sky was streaming into the small skylight window, the moon light shining on her making him want to drop into her room, curl up next to her and run his hands over her bare skin. The thought made him shiver and he found himself blushing again.

He stiffened when he saw her stir, afraid that he had woken her with his footfalls atop her home. Unable to move, he watched as she sleepily rolled onto her back, her eyelids fluttering open lazily. They locked gazes, and Adrien thought that he was a dead man. He waited for her to fly out of bed to scold him; to send him home, but she didn’t. He could tell that she wasn’t fully awake. She probably wouldn’t even remember him coming to see her the next day.

She blinked at him a few times before her face broke into a sleepy smile. Chat felt his heart skip in his chest. He felt it stop completely when she reached a drowsy hand up to him as if to reach out for him. His tail whipped behind him nervously. Was she inviting him into her bed? He didn’t want to assume that and get his face slapped if he tried to join her. The idea of sleeping in the arms of his princess, however, made the nightmare he had had earlier easier to bare. This way, he wouldn’t have to return to the empty mansion tonight at all. He didn’t know what Marinette’s reaction to waking up with a stray cat in her bed would be, but with the night he was having, the repercussions didn’t seem all that terrible.

Adrien was still crouching next to her skylight looking at her in disbelief when she scrubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands and made to unlatch the window. Her eyes were droopy, and her movements were slow, but she pushed the window open just enough to reach out to him once more. Though full of sleep, her eyes still shown with affection and invite. She yawned, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. Adrien paused, he let his face soften from his previous dubious expression to one of grateful acceptance. He took her hand, wishing he could feel her skin with his own, but knowing that it wasn’t the right time. She tugged gently, letting him know it was okay to join her. His eyes never left Marinette, as he watched her lower herself to her bed again, laying down with her arms outstretched for him. His mind was still reeling, as he nervously dropped onto her bed beside her, softly lowering the hatch behind him.

“Mon minou…” he heard Mari mumble sleepily to him as he carefully laid down next to her in her soft bed. Everything smelled like her; like lavender and vanilla. She curled next to him, gently laying her head on his chest. She fell back asleep within moments, her breathes evening out. This relaxed him. He felt his cheeks burning but was too amazed by the softly snoring woman that he was now holding in his arms to even care. The thought that Mari had willingly let him into her bed made his heart stutter. He would definitely have to tease her about this later, but for now, Chat Noir couldn’t imagine being anywhere but in the arms of his best friend.

He kissed the top of her head softly and smiled. He could feel the heavy blanket of sleep nestle itself over him once more, his eyes getting heavier the longer he watched the steady rise and fall of Marinette’s breaths. When he fell asleep for the second time that night, Adrien was not thinking about nightmares, but the warmth of the woman that he loved beside him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfiction, not gonna lie. Props to my sister for proof reading. Enjoy!


End file.
